Keep gaming fans watching

Gaming is a huge community with dedicated fans. Learn techniques for growing an audience who loves your videos and comes back time and time again for more.

Add value to the community and keep your fans coming back

Once a potential fan has discovered your channel or videos, give them a reason to return. Entice them back with a steady flow of similar videos or a high-profile collaboration.

Some ways to do it

Serial content: Gaming videos often work well as episodes that build off one another. Whether you use a walkthrough, a scripted format, or some form of competition, building out a series is a great way to keep your audiences coming back for more.

Collaborations: Collaborations are critical for building new audience. But they can also make existing fans happy by keeping your videos fresh and interesting. Build relationships with other gaming creators and think about creative ways to use them in your videos. (Learn more.)

Be a trendsetter: Curating great videos produced by other gaming creators is a way to show your audience you know what is cool. Use actions like likes or add videos to playlists to keep your audience happy even when you aren’t uploading new videos. (Learn more.)

Serial gaming shows, like “The Gauntlet” on Rooster Teeth, keep fans coming back again and again to find the newest episode. (Video in English)

Be a trendsetter and make your opinion known

Fans don’t just want to watch your videos - they also want to know what you think. Take a stand on debates that matter to your fans and be a trendsetter on what other types of content your fans would love.

Some ways to do it

Curate the debate: Building a playlist or section featuring other reviews or commentary can help build out debate while allowing you take a position without creating new videos.

Reviews: Both product and game reviews can be great ways to make your opinion clear. Reviewing new games or systems can help you get discovered in search and give you an opportunity to build out your YouTube personality.

Add to your off-YouTube presence: Many gaming creators run blogs or news sites in tandem with their YouTube channels. You can couple written reviews with your YouTube videos.

See it in action

Polygon posts reviews, podcasts, and features that have strong opinions on relevant gaming topics. They often integrate these reviews on their off-YouTube site, where viewers can find even more reviews, features, and news. Even though these reviews can be polarizing, they help build engagement and encourage conversation. (Video in English)

IGN released a series where the hosts pick their favorite video games of all time. The series sparked discussion from the fans, who often adamantly agreed or disagreed with the hosts' picks. (Video in English)

Promote your videos across platforms

Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter are all valuable platforms for discovery, both for new and existing fans. Reddit can be especially powerful for gaming creators looking to connect with core fans.

Some ways to do it

Use a wide range of social outlets: Use all the outlets you have at your disposal - Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit - any place your potential fans spend time. (Here are some helpful Google+ tips.)

Reddit can be especially powerful: Once a Reddit audience falls in love with your videos, odds are they will drive many new fans. While posting your own videos to the site has worked for many, there have also been successful cases of mega-fans posting them, too. Encourage your fans to do the hard work for you and use calls to action to get them to spread the word about your videos. Also consider creating a subreddit to grow your community.

Reach out to your favorite blogs: Blogs often love posting videos from YouTube and you can work to get your videos featured around the web. While it may be advantageous holding off until you have an especially awesome video, sharing with blogs that target the right community can be a great audience-building tactic. (Learn more.)

Some ways to do it

Test and iterate: One of the great things about YouTube is that you have the opportunity to experiment and change things that aren’t working. Use small scale tests to see how your audience reacts to a new tactic and use YouTube Analytics to decide if you want to stick with it.

Check back often: Many top creators check YouTube Analytics every day. Frequent checks of your key metrics can help you build out an effective programming schedule and teach you which optimizations are most important.

Analyze the spikes: Abnormal data points are typically the most useful in understanding things that are particularly popular with your audience (or particularly unpopular). Isolate spikes in viewership and watch time to see if there was a change in traffic sources or playback locations.

See it in action

The Traffic sources report can be extremely useful in understanding you viewers are getting to your video. Compare average view duration from different sources to see which fans are the most engaged. In this example, YouTube guide, channel page, and suggested video were the top three sources generating the 1) most views, 2) estimated minutes watched, 3) and average view duration.